RTW January 1

Embrace the Beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

 

My Takeaways

Something Old

Did God include the tree of knowledge  of good and evil to demonstrate we will always need to choose God’s instructions or free will?

Something New

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” Psalm 111:10 (NIV)

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7 (NIV)

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7 (NIV)

Re’shiyth (Ray-sheeth) the h is silence (sheet)
first, beginning, best, chief

Beginning (Dictionary.com)
an act or circumstance of entering upon an action or state

Something to Do

Embrace this beginning.

 

 

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19 Comments

  1. Good morning and Happy New Year! I missed you guys in 2017 – but God had another plan for me (as it relates to Bible reading). Looking forward to learning from everyone’s comments this year. BTW, my name is Tammy, I live in Hampton, VA, wife, mom to a 35 year old; mom (legal guardian) to a 9 year old, who is homeschooled; and dog mom to a 12 year old English Springer Spaniel (Peyton) and 1 year old beagle (Harley Mae). I’m also retired military, love reading and crossword puzzles, and have known “about” God since 1st grade Catholic school, learned to love Jesus as my friend and committed my life to Him on 12/28/2014.

  2. Good morning and Happy New Year RTW friends – I was not part of the RTW bible study in 2017 but I am excited to be back and begin 2018 with God’s Word. My name is Lisa. I live in Marlton, NJ. I am the mother of two daughters, 26 and 20 and a 5 year old fur baby named Lola. I grew up in Catholic church and taught in Catholic schools for close to 15 years. In 2013, I was invited to a church service at a Methodist church in Collingswood, NJ and there was no turning back. It was testimony Sunday and one testimony that day spoke to me and I had to keep going back. I was yearning to know God, and thus began my journey to have a relationship with God! Although I was attending services since November 2013, I finally accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior on March 14, 2015. Praise God for His faithfulness! I look forward to sharing God’s Word with all of you this year!

  3. Sorry for another post, but as I read today, verses 22-23 stuck out to me. “Then the Lord God said “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.

    What struck me immediately was the reference to the plurality of persons in God.

    If I was looking for a reason to continue to read the bible, here it is – The bible is new all the time.

    1. Glad you posted again, Lisa. I needed that insight. I read and re-read that passage. I wondered, “Who is God talking to?” I know about the trinity and sometimes struggle with the concept of 3-in-1. Not sure why I missed this, but that is one thing about the RTW community I love – we help each other with our different perspectives.

    2. In Chapter 1:26 – Then God said, “Let US make human beings in OUR image, to be like US.”

      My son has a devotional titled Long Story Short. It has you read verses through the OT and then asks questions (5 per week). The awesome thing about this book is it always links the story to Jesus and shows how he was there from the beginning and all through the stories of the Bible of the OT. I wish it had more on the Trinity and Holy Spirit to teach from a young age because even as an adult it is difficult for people to understand or grasp.

  4. Sharing:

    Old….Repetitions are important. So I immediately noticed Gen 1: verses 5,8, 13,19,23,31: “Evening passed and morning came.” It is not the order (that night comes before day) but the promised contained in the verbs used to describe the process . Night “Passes” ( as if the power of darkness can only last a little white but Morning can and will “Come” (as if sent by God) and it will have the last say. What a promise.

  5. No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. James 1:13-15 (CSB)

  6. My name is Judy from Omaha, NE. I just finished reading the Chronological Bible for the first time yesterday. Nothing has strengthened and grown my faith as doing this one discipline. I am excited to be a part of this community and continue learning from God’s Word and all of you. May God bless our time together! ?

  7. Hi all (or y’all). This is my fourth year doing RTW. Each year I have said I would do it every single day – and not done so. Just a tip of something that has helped me, remembering that God doesn’t expect perfection. He wants persistence. (I think that is how Wendy says it.) I read the current day’s reading. Then I go back to the beginning of where I left off and read one day. Some days it is more, but I try to do at least one. I do this until I am caught up.

    May all you have a happy 2018 filled with abundant Son shine and blessings.

  8. I am excited to be joining this study! I have always wanted to read through the Bible in a year and never got started. And I have wanted to read the chronological Bible also. So, this study will fit both of those wants.

    My observations from today:
    Something Old: In the beginning God created. From nothing God created the Earth, He spoke it into being. Not evolution.

    Something New: Day one – Light, but not the sun, moon, or stars, those come on day four of the creation. “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5, ESV) God is light, the light that God created is actually coming from God directly. God’s light was sufficient for us all and for the earth. So in creating the sun, moon, and stars we can surmise that God created those things to help us mark days, months, seasons, and years. God is light, and will always be light.

    Something to do: Start each day remembering that God will be my light even in the darkest of days.

  9. Hi everyone! This is my first year to do this study and I’m so excited! I have been waiting for months to get started.
    I am a 44 yr old wife, mother of 2 sons, 21 & 8, step-mother of 2 daughters 21 & 18.
    I recently took 6 weeks off work for a mental break. The stress of a high conflict custody arrangement had completely taken over my health, sanity, hope, marriage, and life. I allowed it. I didn’t know how to stop it. I am getting this personal because during my break I jumped into the Word! I did a very deep study of Matthew, Mark, and beginning of Acts. I feel so much better now and he noticed things don’t bother me anymore. I didn’t get my phone call last night and I didn’t argue. I quickly agreed to a makeup night and didn’t cry. I didn’t cry!
    I’m sharing this because it has been a powerful lesson to me. When your giant comes calling your name, don’t be intimidated. Change your focus. Over the past 2 weeks I have heard 5 times that God never does the same thing twice and he is doing things in a new way. I believe He hears my cries and prayers and a new beginning is on it’s way.

    I am holding onto this Bible tight to understand all that God wants to reveal to me. There are a few questions I have that I wonder if anyone might shed some light to:
    1) Chapter 1:27, God made human beings, Chapter 2 he made Adam and Eve. Not to spoil things but Cain was banished and was afraid that anyone would kill him. I wonder if God made humans, then Adam and Eve as special people.

    2) I have never understood this part of 3:15 – He will strike your head, and you will strike his heal. There is some meaning in that that I’m not getting.

  10. Hello Everyone! I too am excited to get started on this journey. It should be fun as we together unlock the truths revealed to us through God’s word, the Bible.
    Well first off I’ll have to agree with Sandie. I’m a little confused over Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 2:7. God saids let us make human beings and then later he formed man- Adam. Can someone she’d some light on this for me?
    Sandie I think I can help you with Genesis 3:15. I kind of got this when I watched Mel Gibson movie , “The Passion of the Christ.” So here is what I gathered from that movie.
    ……The bruised heel of the seed of the woman refers to the crucifixion of Christ…….The bruised head of the serpent speaks to the final judgment of Satan. So God had a plan from the very beginning to send us a Savior who would crush the surpent’s head, pretty awesome stuff if I do say so myself.

    1. Gen 1:26 and 2:7 are Describing the same event from different perspective/details. 1:26 gives the high level view of when Adam and Eve were created in the overall creation event-day 6. and 2:7 is zooming in to the specific details of how man was created and is going into the details of the fall, setting up the back event and what led up to, and what happened in Eden with the serpent. (Let me tell you about the forest, and then let met tell you about a specific tree in the forest and it’s branches and leaves… that is what happens between chapt 1 and chapt 2.)

    2. Yes! Now that makes sense! Thank you both!

      While reading the Bible on my own I have skipped over details that I wondered what the significance was. During this study I just finished they explained the details and everything had a whole new meaning. So when we get to something with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John I’ll share what I learned.

      1. I love reading the thoughts others have when reading scriptures. It gives new meaning and totally helps me to understand so much better than what I could on my own. I know I’m going to love this year with all of you sharing your thoughts with us. Wow, what a good study this will be! We will be learning so much together. Thanks to everyone who takes time to write their thoughts over what has been read.

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